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OP, what motor mounts did you buy? OEM? Moog or similar high-end aftermarket?
Or did you just go with the lowest price on the internet?
Big difference.
Also. Experienced mechanics learn to charge more than the job would really be "worth" if everything goes right, no bolts are stuck, etc. Because if you do the job 10 times, at least once you will be working on the car for considerably longer than "book" time.
Pay attention, too, to the difference between first asking for a professional diagnosis, as opposed to thinking you already know what's wrong (and some obvious problems, yeah, anybody can diagnose) and ask the mechanic to replace certain parts.
Good point as well that with a car that has been somewhat neglected and has some miles on it, you may have more than one problem causing your symptoms, or you may have deferred maintenance that is unrelated to any symptom so far, but still needs to be caught up.
As Click and Clack used to say, it's the guy who does not want to spend any money, who ends up eventually spending the most.
Did he guarantee that this would "fix the problem"? Or did he simply agree to replace the motor mounts? Big difference.
If it's the former, then he should at least be willing to work with you. If it's the latter, then this is just poor decision-making on your part.
As for the price, you were perfectly free to take your business elsewhere or do the work yourself. You freely chose otherwise... and now you're blaming somebody else for your poor decisions.
Let me rephrase the question for you. "Was I charged above the typical market hourly rate." Ignore everything else and don't comment on anything else.
Yeah, I see his old thread now. It's hard to guess without driving the car and laying my healing hands upon it... but with a vibration at 40-50mph and uneven tire wear, I'd be looking at tire balance, suspension, possible bent wheel, etc. A motor mount is possible too (for vibration at least), but not the first thing I'd go after just based on the description.
And of course it's possible that there are multiple problems with the vehicle. Could be that the motor mounts *were* bad... and tires are also out of balance. That sort of thing.
Sorry... my crystal ball isn't working. Gotta love when a customer drives a piece of junk, buys cheap parts, hires billybob to do the work in a parking lot... and is still pissed that his car isn't fixed. One of many reasons why I'm a *former* mechanic.
I hope he gets ripped off several more times.
Ill educate you. I took it to a real mechanic 5 times and they didn't fix the problem. Already had my rims looked at, CV axel replaced, and tires balanced twice.
Did you get ripped off? That depends on a simple question. Did you ask the person to diagnose and fix the problem that was causing the mechanical problem or did you instruct them to replace the motor mounts as that's what you were told by someone else was the cause of your mechanical problem?
I told him what the shop told me were the issues and then had him verify.
I told him what the shop told me were the issues and then had him verify.
Next, Did you have him conduct a full diagnostics and verify the cause of the initial mechanical issue as only being the motor mounts or did you have him verify that the motor mounts were bad and needed replacing?
Let me rephrase the question for you. "Was I charged above the typical market hourly rate." Ignore everything else and don't comment on anything else.
What do you think is "market hourly rate"? He charged $150 labor, the shop wanted $200 labor. Did you have a shop or person offering to do it for less than $150? If so, you paid above market, if not you didn't. Market rate is what someone is actually willing to do it for.
Also, you weren't quoted "hourly" rate but flat rate for the job. As another mentioned, things often don't go perfect and I doubt you would have wanted to pay $600 labor because bolts needed to be drilled out. You can't have it both ways, paying less because the job went fast but not paying more if the job goes long. Most people prefer to have a fixed labor charge not an open-ended hourly rate.
Diagnosis is seldom perfect. The mounts may have been bad but other parts may also be bad. The problem is that sometimes the problem with the second part doesn't reveal itself until the first part is replaced.
In my experience, unlike what many others here suggested, I find the parts used by shops to be mid-range quality not top quality. If you go to Rockauto online you can generally find parts available in an "economy" version, mid-range version, and high-end version. The high-end version will still be considerably cheaper than the mid-range version from the shop because there is usually a significant markup.
Also the shop is not only warranting the part but the labor to replace the part. So if you had the job done by the shop and the part they installed was defective new, they would have had to take it off, get another one, and put it on. That would have been all on them. You paid for a quoted job and they have to complete the job for that quote. On the other hand, if you buy your own parts and pay someone labor to install them, and those parts are defective new, it's going to be on you to send the parts back and get them replaced, and most likely pay someone more labor to do it over.
Ill educate you. I took it to a real mechanic 5 times and they didn't fix the problem. Already had my rims looked at, CV axel replaced, and tires balanced twice.
Well that's a shame. Maybe you should buy a better vehicle? It's odd how you think that's somebody's problem besides your own.
I'll give you a tip you can use though. Just the tip:
Drive down a four lane and get it shaking real good. Have somebody drive alongside you and look at each wheel. A lot of times you can see which one is jumping. I see it all the time on the highway because I obsessively look for these things.
Really though, without feeling the vibration and mind-melding with the krappy korean kar, this is all guess work. This could be an engine misfire for all we know. A lot of women can't tell the difference.
Why are we helping this guy?
Biting my tongue here.
Agree!
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